In The Dark
by V-San
Summary: After a mission to catch a criminal ends in the escape of their target, the Titans don't think much of it, yet events in the days to come will slowly reveal a twisted plot that could very well spell the end for one of their number.
1. Prologue

_Teen Titans - In The Dark_

_Prologue_

"Titans go!"

Rather than his usual battle cry, Raven thought it would be more appropriate for Robin to instead call out 'No rest for the wicked!' to send the team off, for another few weeks at least.

It was a horribly true fact of life for the Titans, now so more than ever. It had been a scant few days since their defeat of Brother Blood and the fall of the HIVE and already they were being called into action on account of some new maniac's plans.

There'd been a report from the chief of Jump City's police detailing several disappearances whilst the Titans had been away in Steel City. Investigations and the help of a witness to one of the abductions had traced the abductees' whereabouts to a warehouse, down on the docks. Robin had done some digging through the financial records used in acquiring the space and had come up with the name of a doctor: Linda Friitawa. A check in with Batman had not only confirmed that she was originally from Gotham, but also the disturbing fact that she had lost her medical license due to illegal experimentation on humans. Now it seemed she was intent on starting up her experiments again in Jump.

Even though the Titans weren't expecting much in the way of a brawl (science types never usually put up much of a fight before their endgame) Raven could tell it was too much too soon. Cyborg in particular had a dark circle developing under his organic eye that spoke of a lack of rest, and he had been retreating alone to his room to work on upgrades far too often since his encounter with Brother Blood. Usually in the aftermath of their showdowns with whatever villain had an issue with the Titans, there'd be a period of relaxation, allowing the team to reorient themselves both mentally and physically. Not so with this case. There had barely been time to settle in back home before news of the investigations had cropped up. Added to that was the prospect that Friitawa was experimenting on the people she'd abducted; it was leaving a bad taste in already sour mouths. The tension in the air would break soon, she knew, and it wasn't certain that it would be to the Titans' good fortune.

For now though, Raven had to put her desire to simply curl up with a thick book and rest to the back of her mind and focus on the task at hand. The warehouse was sizable; several doors led to extensions off from the main storage bay and there was a narrow staircase that led to a lower underground level. Robin had decided that the best way to search would be to split up into three teams. He and Starfire would search the main bay and west rooms, Cyborg and Beast Boy would take the east doors and the upper walkways whilst Raven herself had been tasked with the lower floor. If any of the teams found either Friitawa or her experiments then they would radio in and the others would use the locators in each of their comm. units to meet up quickly.

Raven glided silently down the metal staircase, careful not to touch the steps and alert anyone who may be below to her journey downwards. The staircase had been practically hidden in the gloom, almost secretly, and one of the roles of the two parties staying above ground was to give the impression that knowledge of the lower level was still hidden – hence Robin's battle cry and Raven's soundless descent. It was almost certain that if Friitawa was here she'd be below ground, meaning it was likely Raven would have to be the one to make the capture given how useful her powers were for containment. She'd been impressed with Robin's quick thinking and his use of a diversion.

The basement was dark; no easy evidence of a room in use given away by a sliver of light emanating from beneath a doorway. Raven opened her senses, letting her shadows meld with the natural darkness in order to detect anything out of the ordinary. She felt rather than heard movement in the distance, and followed the pull of her shadows, riding along them for a dozen twists and turns until an open doorway came into sight, a dim glow spilling from the gap.

Drawing the darkness into herself, Raven created an opening in the ground and slid through her portal, ghosting along the floor as a splatter of darkness. Moving deeper into the room, she caught snatches of consciousness from someone who was no doubt Linda Friitawa on her journey across the two spaces. Something else brushed at her mind briefly, but she knocked it aside – it was more than likely one of Friitawa's 'volunteers'. She pulled herself back out of the darkness once she reached the far side of the room.

Hunched over a bank of computer consoles was a woman with wiry white hair spilled loosely down the back of her filthy lab coat. She was frantically typing and didn't seem to have noticed Raven's entrance. The glow from the computers added an unhealthy pallor to the woman's already sunken features and fatigued expression. Even at this distance, Raven could sense the sheer determination and mania that Friitawa held towards whatever she was working on. It wormed and pricked at her skin, putting the empath on high alert. She could taste the tension again.

Keeping one eye trained on her target, Raven found herself creeping forward to better see the rest of the room. Aside from the bank of consoles dominating the left facing wall where Friitawa sat, there wasn't much else to see. A hospital gurney lay overturned a few feet away and there were several stains on the floor close to it that oddly resembled scuff marks, but other than that the only point of interest was something hidden by an outcropping of wall to the left of the computers.

From where she was stood, Raven couldn't see around the corner to what lay in the alcove, but she noticed a number of wires leading from the bank where Friitawa sat to whatever was hidden there. There was no doubt in her mind that the hidden device was connected in some way to the abduction of several of Jump's citizens. She quickly slid her hand around to the back of her jewelled belt, reaching for her communicator to call the others in.

"You won't be needing to do that just yet Raven. We have some things to discuss, you and I."

The sudden casual speech from the woman sat at the computers made Raven jump slightly. She berated herself mentally for taking her attention off of Friitawa as her comm. unit clattered to the floor.

Friitawa turned to her and smiled, a twisted expression that was far from comforting. Raven noted the natural red colouration of her irises behind the glasses she wore and the white hair that she'd initially written off as a bad dye job suddenly made a lot more sense, as did her pale skin.

"You're good," Raven said conversationally, now keeping both eyes on the ex-doctor as she stood from her chair and proceeded to stretch, "not many people can tell when I move into a room via my shadows."

"Not so much," the woman said, tapping a finger on the monitor of one of the consoles. "I've had an eye on the security camera feed for quite some time now. I knew when the Titans entered this warehouse; I know all about your friends upstairs-who you can call for in a moment by the way- and I was able to see exactly when you pulled your little vanishing trick to sneak in here without arousing suspicion."

Throughout the speech Raven had felt herself growing more on edge, though she did her best not to let it seep into her stone expression. This woman almost made it sound as if she had been waiting for the Titans to find her and for them to split up in the attempt.

That mockery of a smile was trained on her again and in that instant, Raven knew there was something very, very wrong.

"You're already trying to puzzle out why I've been waiting for the Titans. Don't bother; I intend to tell all, Raven. It's just a pity you won't be telling anyone else."

"So you aim to kill me then? I've heard better death threats from people more powerful than you, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm less than impressed with yours."

In all of Raven's experience fighting the criminals who inhabited Jump City, she'd come to expect certain reactions to certain statements during confrontations. This one should have elicited rage from Friitawa, maybe even an attack if she felt lucky enough. So the high, amused laughter that her insult provoked was enough to send Raven's paranoia into high gear

"Kill you?" the doctor chuckled, looking genuinely amused at the thought, "quite the opposite! In fact, I want to know everything about you, and for that, well…"

She paused, and the look in her eyes as she held out her hand made Raven feel slightly sick.

"Here," Friitawa beckoned. Keeping her hand held out, she backed away and went to stand next to the wall that jutted out beside the computer terminals. Her eyes flickered between where Raven stood and whatever it was behind the makeshift screen.

"It's easier if I just show you."

Against her better judgement, Raven took a hesitant step forwards, her gaze still trained on the doctor for any sudden moves and she slowly crossed the room until she was practically stood side to side with her enemy.

Her eyes slid to the left, widening involuntarily and she felt her throat tighten at the sight before her.

"That-that is…"

Blood was roaring through her ears and Raven felt dizzy from the shock of what she was seeing. A hand landed on her shoulder and she flinched slightly, not having sensed any movement from the doctor, who she was now certain, was certifiably _insane_.

"And now Raven," Friitawa said, a smile that was an unnatural mix of both friendship and malice alighting her face as she turned towards the stunned teen, "now, you can go ahead and call your friends."

* * *

Far above where the two talked, four comm. units chirped to life simultaneously and four pairs of hands each activated them to receive a signal.

There was no visual, only static, and Robin was already moving before he heard the voice from the other end:

"Everyone get down here, _now_!"

It made them all uneasy. Not just the short, barked order with a lack of video accompaniment, but also the prominent undertone of terror in their teammate's voice. Despite each of them knowing that yes, Raven could feel fear when the situation called for it, they all had a healthy respect for how much pressure it took for her usual stoic mask and monotone combination to shatter. The sheer panic that had burst over the radio waves alerted each Titan that the situation below ground was highly unusual and potentially dangerous.

They wasted no time in heading for the mostly obscured staircase to the underground once they reached the main bay. Both Cyborg and Starfire were able to provide a source of light as they ran and the combined glow of the powerful flashlight and the alien starbolts cut a rapid, if not slightly eerie path through the darkness towards where their teammate was. Pulling up the screen on his comm. unit that located the other unit's signals, Robin quickened his sprint until he was at the head of the pack, guiding the others through the maze of corridors underground with a growing sense of urgency as he continued to dial Raven's own unit and gained no response.

Once they reached the end of the hallways there was no hesitation, a swift kick knocked the door open without a second thought to caution as they attempted to locate their teammate in the gloom.

Eyes narrowing, Robin stepped forwards, eyes flicking left and right as he took in the sight of the room. Aside from the gurney and medical supplies littering the floor, he also took note of the large wall of computer consoles on one side of the room. Most, if not all the screens were cracked and black, while parts of the main bank were beginning to spark.

'_Those were broken recently, meaning there was a struggle. But if that's the case…'_

"Raven!" he called, unable to see his teammate and hoping she was in a state to answer.

A weak cough sounded near the consoles, and his eyes alighted on an outcropping of wall that had concealed more of the room from him. Sprinting over and hearing the rest of the Titans close behind him, his eyes quickly found the hunched over form of his teammate. She was leaning up against the other side of the wall that had hidden her from view. He saw that she was shaking, covered in water and surrounded by broken glass. Next to where she sat was a huge tank that seemed to be the source of the liquid. A sequence of wires connected it to the now ruined computer bank.

"Raven, are you okay? Where's the doctor?" he asked, hunching down next to the girl's slight form.

"I-I don't know. She fought- we struggled…but I can't remember what happened."

As she spoke, Raven's tremors began to increase in severity and Robin became aware of how cold it was down below the main bay of the warehouse. Even with her cloak drawn about her shoulders as it was, Raven still looked small and uncomfortable in her soaking wet attire.

"Cyborg," Robin said, turning to face the others where they hovered a few feet away, "do you have anything that can warm Raven up? She's freezing and the water's not helping any."

Cyborg stepped forwards, flipping open a panel on his arm as he spoke, "Always keep a few portable heat packs with me in case a mission goes south and we have to keep away the cold."

Extracting a few small packs from the space below the panel, he handed them over to Raven. "Just make sure you wrap 'em in something and you'll be toasty in no time."

As the packs were handed over, he switched his attention to the other two members of the team, currently lacking in orders.

"Beast Boy, Starfire, see if you can find any other exits in this room other than the one we used. We didn't pass Friitawa on the way here, so she's either somewhere in the building or she's made her escape already."

The alien and the changeling nodded, both setting to work and Robin watched as a bloodhound framed by a green glow began sniffing around the edges of the room, trying to catch a scent.

Turning back, he saw that Raven had shed her cloak, which was now bundled into her arms and no doubt contained a few of Cyborg's heat packs. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he tried once more to prod Raven's memory, hoping that some clue to either Friitawa's whereabouts or her plans could be remembered by the empath.

"Can you remember anything that happened beyond the struggle? Where she might have run to?"

"I'm not sure. I think she stuck me with some kind of needle…I couldn't use my powers and my memory's a blank. I think there might have been a wall…?"

"What about before that? Did you see anything that might indicate her plans? What was in the tank?"

As he continued his questions, Raven's eyes squeezed shut as she tried to concentrate, but as he asked about the tank, her whole body tensed beside him. He paused for a moment, observing her reactions as she turned to face the broken device beside them. An emotion flashed across her face so suddenly he almost thought he'd imagined it, but there had been definite fear in her eyes when she looked at the structure.

"I can't remember what was in the tank. But whatever _was_ inside..." she whipped her head back around, pinning Robin with a look he recognized as apprehension, "I know it was something bad. Very bad."

She held his gaze for a moment, long enough that the seriousness of the situation was further impressed upon the Boy Wonder, before she lowered her head again.

"Try and see if there's anything else you can remember about what happened tonight," Robin said, taking Raven's hand and straightening up he pulled her into a standing position, "If there's anything that comes to mind, write it down and you can tell me in the morning."

Raven nodded and Robin guided her over to where Beast Boy and Starfire were continuing their investigation.

"Can you two take her back to the tower? We don't know how stable Raven's powers are since we don't know anything about what the doctor may have injected her with and I don't want to take the risk that something might happen if she goes alone." Seeing that she was about to protest, Robin stuck a single finger over Raven's lips.

"No arguing, team leader's orders. I get the feeling Friitawa's long gone, but Cyborg and I will stay behind here to make sure we don't miss anything."

"Yeah, don't worry Raven," Beast Boy slid over to Raven's side, slinging his arm about her shoulders with a grin, "Cy and Robin have totally got it covered on this end, so we can chill back at the Tower and you can try to remember what happened and get some rest. We can even order take-out!"

"Yes, that sounds most enjoyable Raven," Starfire added, her tone mild as she gently persuaded the dark bird, "Come, perhaps we can even play the 'I-Spy' on the way home?" Robin backed off a few paces, watching with satisfaction as Starfire took to Raven's other side as she and Beast Boy lead the empath away from the lab. The set of Raven's shoulders was still tense, but he saw the minute signs that she was slowly relaxing under the care of her friends.

Heading back to where Cyborg was examining the broken tank, he peeked around the metal Titan's side to see that he had opened up a few of the control systems and was probing inside experimentally.

"Got any clue what might have been in here?"

Cyborg didn't turn, just shook his head in the negative and Robin was reminded not for the first time how tired the metal man looked. He cursed the lack of rest they'd all had between now and the Steel City crisis, but knew there was nothing he could do for the moment except encourage each of his team to soldier through their weariness.

"Well, then maybe this can give you a clue," he extended his hand and this time was afforded Cyborg's attention.

His glove was still wet from the fluids inside the tank that had been on Raven's clothes when he'd touched her. He pinched and pulled his fingers apart slowly to better show Cyborg. The fluid was somewhat more viscous than the water they'd initially assumed it to be, clinging slightly to his finger and thumb as he pulled them apart.

"Analyse it, could be a hint to whatever was in there. I'm gonna check the computers in the meantime, see if anything survived."

He waited for Cyborg to collect a small sample of the substance on his hand, before making his way to the near-useless bank of computers to his right. Once he had the chance to survey the damage up close, Robin frowned. He'd guess that someone had been thrown into the computers during whatever struggle had occurred, and due to her disorientation, he'd be willing to bet that it was Raven. He tapped a few keys experimentally, but the few screens that were working were barely readable and it was hard to see if any change had occurred. Not quite ready to write off what may be their best source of information just yet, he began to search for any slots or drives where a CD or a USB pen could be inserted. There was a chance, however small, that her hasty retreat had caused the doctor to leave something behind.

Most of the slots and drives turned up empty and he guessed that the doctor had grabbed everything she could before leaving, but three of the numerous drives still contained disks that must have eluded her eyes in the poor light. Thankful for small miracles, Robin set to work teasing each disk out of the system. If he was lucky, these disks might be just enough to derail whatever it was that the doctor was planning before all hell was raised.

* * *

_A.N. Hello and welcome to 'In The Dark', my first attempt at a Teen Titans fanfiction. I've actually been slowly working on this story for a number of years, stopping and starting it for months at a time. It's planned out, but a work in progress. I finally feel brave enough to post this prologue, mostly because I just want to finally get this idea out here for reading. Those slightly more familiar with DC canon might recognize Linda Friitawa from the Batman comics and if you do, assume this appearance comes before she becomes 'Fright'. For those not familiar, all you'll really need to know about her will be covered in the story. Additionally, this story itself takes place between seasons 3 and 4 of the Teen Titans cartoon, though things revealed in Season 4 will be talked about too._

_Updates on this story will be slow, I'll be open about that now, as I want to be really picky about my chapter editing process. I want this story to flow as well as possible and to do that, I need time to write it to how it needs to be for it to (hopefully) be engaging, and for the characters to stay true to themselves. I hope people can be patent and stick around with me, if they find this prologue enjoyable. Reviews and constructive criticism are highly appreciated._

_That's all from me for now, hope you like it~_


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

"Damn."

Raven wasn't given to cursing often. Aside from leaving a bad taste in her mouth, she'd learned that for one trying to suppress emotion, being foul mouthed wasn't a big help. Curses were like the proverbial cork in a bottle of champagne: once it was out, an inevitable fizz of emotions would bubble up soon after. They were generally more trouble than they were worth, but in this case she felt justified in letting slip a little.

Her head was _pounding_. Not just in the tack hammer way that usually indicated a tension headache, but a real, honest to goodness thumping that made her feel as though she was stood next to a speaker with some particularly deep bass playing. This went far beyond strain and into stressed out territory. She'd been getting the headaches all week, since the night of the Titans' botched raid of the warehouse and they felt worse each time they crept up on her. At first, she'd resorted to taking a few painkillers in the hopes that they'd drown out the intense ache, but more often than not that had just left her curled miserably into a ball on her bed, trying instead to sleep it off as the drugs failed to have any effect.

After the painkillers were unsuccessful, she had since resolved herself to ignoring the headaches the best she could and attempting to meditate to take her mind off it. Unfortunately, trying to focus and find her centre whilst the mental equivalent of a full scale downtown battle with the HIVE was going on her head made meditating…tricky, to put it lightly.

Endeavouring to push aside the pain for the moment, Raven gave up on her attempts at meditating, choosing instead to ruminate over the events of the past several days since the Titans' disastrous failed attempt at capturing the now missing Linda Friitawa. In particular, the absence of her memories leading up to how she'd ended up on the floor of a warehouse, soaking wet and _sans_ her target left her feeling an uncomfortable amount of guilt, embarrassment and irritation. The woman had no powers, no mental training and no martial arts expertise and yet had somehow managed to subdue her long enough to escape. If she'd been a more prideful person, Raven didn't doubt that she'd be stewing in rage right now…as it was, the circumstances of the failed capture had just left a jumbled mess of feelings that she was having a hard time sorting through properly.

She'd tried to help out in other ways, deciding she owed it to the rest of the team since the escape had more or less fallen on her shoulders, but with her head barely allowing her any time to rest and organize her thoughts, Raven doubted exactly how useful she was being.

Not that nothing at all was being done to find the mad doctor. Both Cyborg and Robin had combined their talents in computers and detective work to cast a surveillance network over the city's ATMs, security cameras and traffic cameras. If she was spotted anywhere within the city, or any of her cards or accounts were used for even the smallest purchase, the team would be alerted to her whereabouts and ready to make a successful capture.

If by some chance she had left the city, police forces from Washington all the way to Metropolis were on the lookout for anyone matching her physical description and had a direct line of contact for both the Titans and the Justice League. The list of places Linda Friitawa could safely hide away in was growing shorter by the day.

Initially, Raven had tried to use her powers to cast her own type of empathic dragnet over the city, hoping that if she could spread her senses out far enough, she might be able to catch the distinctive unhinged twang of Friitawa's emotions for a second, narrowing down a location for the others to search. But there had been no luck and Raven couldn't tell if it was because the doctor had skipped town or if her own powers were the root of the trouble.

Even that carried its own particular set of worries. What if these headaches and her failure to utilize her powers were in fact connected to her birthday? The date was fast approaching and long gone were the days where she could ignore how close the occasion was. Years from the appointed time had slowly ticked down into months. Soon enough it would be just mere weeks and then…_He would-_

Sighing as the throbbing in her head only seemed to intensify from her worries, her ruminations were abandoned and she let herself float back down to the floor of her bedroom. Since painkillers were going to be of little use, Raven decided that simply relaxing her mind was the way to go in stopping these headaches- no doubt they were little more than the product of stress from the recent barrage of troubling situations- and as meditation was unproductive, she decided to try her next best technique for loosening up.

Herbal tea.

* * *

**Data de-encryption system online_ please insert disk(s) and press ENTER to begin**

**Disk #1 loading…Online**

**Disk #2 loading…Online**

**Disk #3 loading…Online**

**Begin de-encryption of data on selected items? Y/N**

**Disk #1 0% de-encrypted**

**Disk #2 0% de-encrypted**

**Disk #3 0% de-encrypted**

Tapping the last few keys to set his programs to auto alert his comm. to when any of the data on the three disks he had recovered was fully de-encrypted, Robin stood from his desk and stretched, wincing at the pops his shoulders made from being in one position for so long.

His stomach gurgled loudly and a brief check of the clock on his monitor told him it was nearly lunchtime, he'd worked through the night and most of the morning.

Ignoring his fatigue, he decided to head down to eat with the others, squinting at the sudden rush of bright light that permeated the gloom of his own room once the door was opened. He was somewhat annoyed that developing and implementing a data de-encryption program had taken this long for him to set up, and he wasn't just referring to his toils during the night.

Once they had arrived at the scene, the police had insisted on taking the three disks he had recovered from the wrecked computer bank at Friitawa's warehouse, informing him that JCPD's technology was more than adequate for cracking whatever protection was on the technology.

Robin had wanted to argue that the systems he had at the Tower could most likely do what the police's did in half the time and to a higher standard of detail, but he was also painfully aware that technically, the Titans still operated in Jump City as vigilantes with no jurisdiction. Sure, the mayor had no problems with them catching criminals and stopping the city from being destroyed by super powered lunatics, but the police still had a right to all evidence found at a crime scene. Robin had waited almost a full week before the JCPD had relented and given the disks to him. Now finally, he was optimistic about making some headway into where doctor Friitawa had escaped to and what she had planned.

As he made his way down one of the many twisting passageways in the tower, he registered the swishing of one of the doors ahead, signalling its opening. He smiled softly when he saw the familiar blue cloak and purple hair of his team mate, happy to see that Raven was becoming more frequent in her time spent with the rest of the team.

He quickened his pace to walk alongside her, something that became tricky with a team mate who often took to gliding when she travelled somewhere, even if it was only a few inches off the ground.

"Hey Raven," smiling a greeting, he took note of the way the dark girl winced slightly at his voice before she glanced towards him and nodded in return.

There had been something bothering her all week. She'd done her best not to show it, but he'd picked up on her occasional aversions to noise and the rate at which the painkillers were disappearing from the medicine cupboard in the kitchen. Much as Robin wanted to press her into telling him or one of the other Titans what was wrong, he knew that method would only make her stonewall his attempts at sympathy. A few years of living with his moodily enigmatic team mate told him that it was best to wait her out.

As they both reached the main room, she veered off towards the kitchen, while Robin headed towards the couch. Cyborg and Beast Boy were both sat on one side of the couch. Both had controllers in hand and they seemed to be explaining the mechanics of one of their videogames to Starfire while they played. The alien girl in question was sat to the right of them, watching the two brightly coloured fighters on the screen with barely contained glee. Robin took the chance to slip onto Starfire's other side and settle in next to her. In an instant her sunny smile was turned onto him and he felt himself responding in kind. Behind him, he heard Raven move from the kitchen and come to a stop behind the couch. The faint floral aroma she carried with her told him that she had a cup of tea in her hands and Robin allowed the smell and the comfort of being around his friends to relax him slightly.

"Hey Raven, wanna try a match?" Beast Boy piped up, his eyes never leaving the screen as his thumbs moved a blur across the control pad.

"No."

"Awww come on! Starfire's got the next match, and we can totally teach you the controls before then, right Cy?"

Cyborg grunted noncommittally from where he was on Beast Boy's left, frowning at the events on screen.

"_No_."

Robin turned ever so slightly to look behind him and noted the tic above Raven's eye as Beast Boy continued his pestering. Whatever was bothering her was no doubt affecting her mood as well, given that it usually took much longer for Raven's tone to get that dangerous. He didn't particularly feel like refereeing an argument between the two so soon after sitting down, so he decided it would be best to get Beast Boy off her case for now.

"Hey, maybe you should-"

He never got the chance to finish his suggestion, as the loud whine of the city alert cut off whatever he had been about to say. He registered a clatter and a loud hiss behind him even as he moved quickly to wards the main computers, but forced himself to put it out of his mind as he brought up the map of the city over the game on-screen. A red dot was flashing above the Second street Bank in the downtown area and a few keystrokes brought up CCTV footage from the surrounding area.

"What's the situation Rob?" Cyborg asked from behind him.

"Break in at the Second street Bank. Suspect is…" another few seconds of watching the feed, "Killer Moth. Titans, Go!"

There was no hesitation as they moved out towards the garage, but as he passed, Robin took a second to wonder at the spilled teacup that lay on the ground behind the couch, and at the girl who had dropped it.

* * *

The trip down to the sub-basement garage was short and uneventful whilst taking the main elevator, but Raven attempted to use the time to heal her tender hand while she rode. The headaches were definitely putting her on edge, if even the alarm could affect her so badly.

The sudden blast of noise had proved almost too much for her head, the crashing beat in her mind only being stamped out at the instant burning of her hand as the tea she'd been clutching so tightly was dropped from nerveless fingers distracted by pain.

Far from being just bothersome, these headaches were now starting to worry Raven. If just a short burst of loud noise was enough to distract her like that, there was no telling what effects the chaos of a battle would have, especially on her powers. She was almost tempted to beg off whatever fight awaited them downtown, but the embarrassment of revealing that her major issue was a few headaches would be pretty bad, especially if Beast Boy caught wind of it. As long as things didn't get too hectic, she could handle it.

She hoped.

"Hey, mind if I ride shotgun?" she asked Cyborg as the doors admitted them to the garage.

"Sure. BB, Star are you guys flyin'?"

"You know it Cy!" the changeling called as he and Starfire ran for the doors leading to the bay. Both Cyborg and Raven ran in the opposite direction, quickly finding seats within the T-Car and buckling themselves in. Beside them, Robin revved up the engine to the R-Cycle as though it were a wild beast under his grip rather than a simple motorbike. Cyborg quickly joined him with the T-Car and Raven winced at the sudden display of loud noises. This might be trickier than she thought.

Thankfully, the exhibition didn't last long and the two vehicles were soon racing off into the city, though Cyborg's harsh driving soon left Raven wishing she'd opted to fly instead.

The downtown area wasn't too far from the roadway leading to the Tower, so they reached their destination in only a few minutes, which Raven appreciated. Starfire and Beast Boy reached them at almost exactly the same time they pulled up, and simultaneously, the Titans turned to face the bank.

"So, is he still in there or what?"

"You mean the buzzing didn't give it away?" Raven snarked at Beast Boy's question, gesturing to the smashed up building before them that was indeed, buzzing.

"If his bugs are still around then so is Killer Moth. Be on guard, Titans."

Under Robin's direction, the team advanced into the bank, readying themselves for any form of attack. Despite the brightness of the day around them, the lights were either malfunctioning or broken, casting a large part of the bank's vast foyer and cashier's desk area into dark shadow. There was a large door to the other end of the room. It no doubt led deeper into the building, most likely towards the vaults and as one, the team headed for it, confident that when they found the vaults, they'd also find Killer Moth.

The door opened up into a long corridor, further enshrouded in darkness. The further they ventured, the louder the buzzing became, yet there was no sign of a single one of the mutant moths each of the Titans knew was present. The entire building felt claustrophobic with the pressure of the noise around them and Raven knew that it wasn't just her having problems anymore. At least two of her team mates had sensitive hearing that definitely wouldn't be taking kindly to this cacophony.

Up ahead, she could barely make out Robin turning to Cyborg, gesturing with his hands in what she guessed was sign language. Evidently, the metal man understood the signals as he nodded and activated the mounted light on his shoulder, granting them a slight amount of visibility. Even so, it was almost worse than the darkness, in a way. As the Titans made their way further into the interior of the building, Raven's eyes kept pulling towards the walls, convinced some sinister shape had just scuttled into, and back out of, her peripheral vision.

Still, they encountered no one, neither bug nor man as they headed further in. Eventually, the corridor they were in opened off into a larger room – three circular vault doors stood like sentinels on the remaining walls, yet all three remained locked. No signs of tampering or forced entry.

"Come on dude, what is this?" Beast Boy griped, yelling over the noise, "What kind of villain comes to rob a bank and doesn't go for one of the vaults?"

Almost as if prompted by the question, the noise within the room stopped suddenly, as if there had never been any sound to begin with. The sudden switch was head-swimmingly disorientating and Raven almost missed the soft claps from behind her.

Together, the team turned to see Killer Moth, leaning languidly against the wall next to the corridor they'd just entered from. In the near-total darkness, it was hard to tell if he'd emerged from some hidden place, or if the Titans had just missed him. Neither thought was any better than the other.

"Well Titans," he rasped out, not advancing towards them but rather, backing away towards the exit, "I'd have to say that the answer to your question is: one who doesn't intend to rob the bank at all!"

Bringing his fist up before anyone could react to such a bizarre declaration, he swung to his left and there was the distinct sound of shattering glass, before a barred door dropped down from the ceiling in front of him, slamming solidly down to the floor and cutting him off from the Titans.

Robin ran forwards, wrapping his hands around the bars as he attempted to lift the gate back up, but it was no use. Bringing her own hands up, Raven gathered shadowed energy into them, intending to direct it towards the bars herself and free them from this impromptu prison, but a sudden blare of noise that could only be an alarm system shrieking to life ripped through her brain, kicking her headache into high gear once again. She startled, the energy dissipating almost as quickly as it had gathered.

"I wasn't expecting it to be this easy, Titans. You see, there's a lovely little jewellery store across from this bank I've just been dying to visit. But I knew I had to find a way to keep you out of my business once I got there, so here we are."

Killer Moth walked backwards down the corridor as he spoke, fading almost completely into the darkness. All that remained was his ghoulish mask and a single arm as he waved, mockingly to the assembled teens.

"Oh, and by the way," he called, "so you don't get lonely, I asked a few friends of mine to keep you company while you were here. Expect them to drop in any moment now!"

It was almost automatic. The Teen Titans had long since gotten used to bad one-liners and awful puns that each turned their head to the ceiling without thinking. Raven glanced up along with the others, not trusting her head with any sudden movements and she was able to register a pair of hellish blue eyes diving straight towards her before, as one, the team was flattened under a mass of writhing, winged bodies.

The buzzing started up again almost instantly, roaring along with the din of the alarm system as a dozen tooth filled mouths bit hungrily into any of Raven's exposed limbs they could find. To her left, she heard a fearful shriek that could only have come from Starfire, before the darkness was pierced by brilliant strobes of green.

Everything was total pandemonium, each snatch of light illuminated more of the crazed moths as they dove for each of the struggling teens with their wicked teeth. The room was beginning to smell of cooked moth hide as Cyborg brought his sonic cannon into play alongside Starfire's starbolts. Each time Raven tried to focus and use her powers to throw the insects off, her concentration was broken by teeth ripping at her until all she could settle for were wild slashes of energy fuelled by panic.

"Hold your breath!" Robin's voice called out over the din and Raven took in a lungful of air before she clamped her mouth shut. Not a moment later and the room was awash with thick smoke.

The moths went crazy; the ones that didn't instantly drop to the floor took off, flying drunkenly about. Most crashed into walls or each other, blinded by the haze. There was clearly something in the smoke that they didn't like. Raven sat up, still keeping her mouth closed, watching the death throes of the insects. A hand landed on her shoulder and a small gas mask was pressed to her face courtesy of Robin. She nodded her thanks.

"Think you can get us out of here?"

Understanding what he needed her to do, she took the mask for herself and headed back over to the barred security gate, stepping around the still-thrashing bodies on the floor as Robin worked his way around to the others.

By the time he had brought each of the now-masked Titans to her, she had prepped a sizeable portal of darkness.

"This should take us back out to the main street," she said, reaching out for Robin's hand, watching the others do the same to form a chain, "keep your hands linked and brace yourselves."

As one, they strode through, the energy shifting them outside almost instantly, exiting the bank just as Killer Moth ran out of a building on the other side of the road, hands full of bags that no doubt contained stolen jewels.

His mask didn't let them see it of course, but every Titan would have bet that the villain's eyes bugged out of his head upon seeing them calmly appear before him. Several bags tumbled from his hands and that was all Robin needed to dart forwards and engage him in combat.

Making to run forward with the others, Raven faltered as her world tipped sharply to the right. The portal behind her crackled out of existence as the energies within her were disturbed. She felt as though she were drunk. Had some of the gas from Robin's smoke pellets gotten into her system? She tried to stagger forwards towards the rapidly escalating fight but it was no use, each step caused the world to tip like a fairground ride. It was all she could do to stay upright.

She could already hear the chorus of battle as the others jumped into the fray alongside their leader, but the intense pain fuzzed at her vision whiting out most of the world's details and preventing her from seeing anything in front of her.

"Raven, look out!"

The cry of warning barely even registered before something large and heavy bowled into her, slamming her back into the wall of the bank where her head met the brickwork with a crack. Something jabbed into her stomach and as she bent forwards reflexively, eyes clenched shut, she was grabbed roughly by the hair and swung sharply around.

Twin arms locked themselves around her neck and midriff as she was pulled back against a body. She began to struggle, but the grip was strong and she certainly wasn't a specialist in physical fighting, headache or no.

"Let her go Moth!"

Killer Moth's raspy voice rattled in her ear as the villain laughed at Robin's demand.

"Not happening kiddo. Looks like someone's clipped your bird's wings, so I suggest you back off before I snap your friend's pretty little neck." She was jerked suddenly to the left before any response to the threat could be given, Killer Moth's gravelly voice raised to shout above them.

"I wouldn't try sniping me with those energy blasts either, alien, unless you're feeling lucky enough to risk your friend that is."

Right. Not only was she a hostage, but she was also a human shield. But this was no problem. She'd escaped from worse situations than this. She'd fought off her friends trapped in Starfire's body; she'd beaten a guy who'd turned her into a rabbit! This would be a piece of cake…

Except that she couldn't concentrate.

'_Get off.'_

The headache was being amplified as Killer Moth broke into a round of laughter at the predicament the Titans were now in, the horrible synthetic quality his mask lent to his voice boring straight in to her skull as his binding hold tightened with the motions.

'_Get off.'_

Each sound and movement jarred at the fragile control she had and there as no way she could use her shadows to break his grip without them running wild on the surrounding area. It was now taking what little focus she had left to keep the energies from bursting forth and-

The arm around her middle squeezed tighter, pressing uncomfortably against her ribs as though she were a bottle of soda pop. She became acutely aware of every inch of the villain's body touching her own. No matter that they were both clad in costumes, his touch felt like grease across her skin. There was a brief second of retching disgust before her control rebelled and collapsed.

'_**Get **__**off**__.'_

Everything else became the equivalent of white nose as her eyes snapped open and dark energy burst out from her body, black claws tearing deep, heavy gouges in the road and buildings around her as a shockwave slammed both Raven and Killer Moth backwards through the bank's wall, as though it was merely glass.

The sudden unwelcome impact and the added pain that followed blanked out her rage for just a moment, allowing her to throw back the iron chains of her control around the wild shadows, stopping their rampage.

She lay panting amongst the rubble, Killer Moth's battered but breathing body resting a few feet away. The arms that had been in contact with her bore the signs of severe burning from her energies, but for the moment, she couldn't bring herself to feel remorse.

A chorus of distant cries and running feet finally spurred her to rise, gingerly forcing her legs and arms into action whilst grimly ignoring the fresh pains that assaulted her with each movement. Beast Boy was the first to reach her, yet she shrugged off his steadying hand with a glare, drawing herself back into her cloak as best she could. Killer Moth's grip had thrown her well out of her comfort zone and the thought of having someone else grab her, even in a friendly manner was…far too much.

Dismissing Beast Boy's wounded look at the refusal (and her own guilt for being the cause of such a look), she intercepted Robin's obvious question as he and the remaining Titans reached her.

"I'm fine, but he's not," she gestured dismissively towards where Killer Moth lay, his only movement the shaking rise and fall of his chest, "I'd be surprised if he didn't have any broken bones. His arms are going to need treatment too."

Predictably, the others broke into an onslaught of questions once she finished, yet she spared no answers for any of them, brushing past them and heading for the gaping hole in the wall. She could feel the barriers she had hastily built to contain her powers beginning to crumble, she desperately needed to meditate. Nothing short of killing a man was going to distract her from this and although Killer Moth had been battered far more than she was comfortable with, she was at least confident that he would live.

She was almost free from the wreckage when a hand landed solidly on her shoulder and she had to fight away the rage her tenuous control so easily provided to her. Could no one respect her need for personal space?

"Wait. Don't you think that you're missing out on some detail here? Raven what's-"

"Robin, _please_," she said, a rare note of desperation colouring her tone that she almost hated herself for, "I'll tell you what I can later, but right now I need to meditate."

The Boy Wonder said nothing for a moment, assessing what factors he had observed from the situation and the state his teammate was in. He finally loosened his grip, but said nothing when Raven wrenched her shoulder away, as though disgusted, before slowly rising from the ground.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked quietly, hoping she would perhaps be more forthcoming where she knew she couldn't be heard by the others.

"Just peachy Robin," she told him, voice betraying nothing even as a new headache roared into existence, woken by her levitation, "I've never been better."

* * *

_A.N Would you believe I intended to update this back in February? Eheheh...to be honest, I actually started a new job back in February, and when your work time goes from 3 to 8 hours a day (plus 2 more for commuting) well, your time to write goes waaaay down. Though really...I did mention this last time, but reviews will honestly motivate me to try and get more done in the way of writing. I won't hold a chapter for ransom or anything, but still, if you like what I'm doing, please tell me! Actually knowing I have people who are waiting and possibly even looking forward to the next chapter really pushes me to do more in this regard. Please, just consider it, and I can try and have the next chapter out before 2016 if I know people were interested._

_Hope you liked it~_


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Crouching down so that he was almost level with the ground, Cyborg ran his finger along the smear of dried blood on the bathroom floor, letting his systems perform a check of the sample while he stood again, his face grim.

Really, the tests were little more than a formality at this point. He knew exactly whose blood he'd found this morning, just like he had the past several mornings this had occurred since the first few droplets had been discovered around the sink at the beginning of the week.

He felt his processor conduct a low level wireless hook-up with the Titans mainframe to examine the results of the scan and was unsurprised when the results came back seconds later.

For the fourth time this week, something had caused Raven to spill blood on the bathroom floor.

A part of him wanted to write this off as what his father had once referred to as 'women's problems' and leave it at that, but given that Robin had been the one to bring the initial blood sample to him and request a check, the concern his leader had shown upon learning that it had belonged to the dark Titan had also found a home within him. And even without that, Raven's wild display of power leading to Killer Moth's capture had everyone on edge. Displays like that led to nothing good when it came to her, a situation he had first-hand experience with. Clearly there was something more going on here, but for her part, Raven was remaining tight-lipped on any problems she may have been facing.

He toyed with the notion (as he had done with each new bloodstain he had found) of marching down to Raven's bedroom and demanding that she sit down and tell him what was going on, but he knew methods like that rarely produced more than a glare and a few days of pointed silence from her.

It wouldn't do any good, and that's what he kept telling himself as he began the journey to Robin's room to make his report, and not to the other end of the Tower where he knew Raven's room was.

* * *

The girl in question let out an uncharacteristic snarl, the candle she'd been in the process of lighting gaining several gouged fingernail marks from her clenched fist as a new bout of blood began to trickle from her nose.

The box of tissues she'd taken to keeping on her bedside table was now running dangerously low, she noted, pulling another scrap of fabric from the box and attempting to staunch the flow before she made yet another mess.

'_Okay, I might really be in trouble here.'_

Not even a day after the disastrous battle against Killer Moth, and her condition had worsened. She'd been getting nosebleeds at an alarming rate to accompany the headaches and meditation had become a distant fantasy. Containing her powers was becoming a full time job and while she'd been lucky enough that no other villains had attempted anything, she didn't doubt her teammates had noticed something was up.

Isolation was something that they were used to from her, but she at least showed herself at mealtimes, even if only for a few seconds, but she hadn't dared take the risk of leaving her room for longer than was absolutely necessary with her emotional state as fraught as it was.

To their credit, none of them had come knocking at her door in search of answers, but even in that respect, Raven felt as though she were living on borrowed time. She would have had to have been blind to miss Robin's concern for her well-being these past weeks. His very nature was one of curiosity, so she couldn't count on him to keep his distance for much longer. Cyborg was much the same, if a bit gentler about it, and Starfire and Beast Boy could be flat out nosy, especially if a friend's health was under concern.

Really though, despite all that, what was the point in hearing their questions if she already knew what they were going to say? Something along the lines of: 'what's wrong? How long has this been happening? Do you need to go to the hospital?' In this respect, it was easier to just cut out the middle man and fix the problem herself before they even had a chance to ask.

She was _sure_ this was a mystical problem, possibly even something to do with her birthday; therefore she was going to keep researching her texts for any sign of what this might be and how to stop it. There was no need for the Titans to get involved. Absolutely none.

She winced as a discordant tearing sound reached her ears, turning just as a wayward strand of her power finished tearing up the pillows on her bed as though they were cat toys. With a flick of her wrist, the tattered shreds of fabric and feathers were catapulted across the room, landing squarely on an increasing pile of broken lamps, torn books and shattered ornaments.

Sparing the pile a short glance, Raven quickly turned back to the book in front of her and the candle she'd resorted to as a source of light and attempted to ignore the blood that had seeped through the issue and onto her hands.

* * *

"You're sure? There's no way you could have read the samples wrong, or gotten them mixed up with anything else?"

"Robin, I'm sure," Cyborg sighed, growing tired of the roundabout tone the discussion had taken since bringing the newest findings to his leader.

"I checked the results against the blood and DNA profiles you set up back when we were first getting off the ground. I even ran 'em by everyone else's just to make sure. I've verified it on the mainframe a dozen times: that blood is definitely Raven's."

The boy wonder leaned heavily against his desk, his body alight with strain as he became aware of the trap he had laid out for himself and then foolishly wandered into. The source of where Cyborg's frustration lay right now. When had this become about ignoring the obvious? Something was seriously affecting Raven, yet he'd been gun-shy about confronting her about it, opting to let her open up in her own time when he knew full well how reticent she was, wasting Cyborg's and his own time by ordering more blood tests…this wasn't helping anything but his own peace of mind, fragile after the events leading up to Steel City.

"Alright," he said at last, raising his head to look his teammate in the eye, "we need to talk to her about this, find out exactly what's wrong."

"You sure that's such a good idea? You know how she gets when she's confronted. Best case scenario; she shuts us out, ignores us for a few weeks and skips straight to the death threats whenever BB bugs her."

"She's had her chances to come forward with this, if it's been going on for as long as I think it has. We can't afford to ignore something like this Cy, a team is only as good as its members, and right now whatever's wrong is messing up the dynamic. Look at Killer Moth's capture, not exactly what I'd call one of our finest takedowns ever."

It had been a debacle. All things considered they knew they were lucky that nobody had been seriously injured. Court cases and piles of red tape wouldn't do them any favours, given that their status as vigilantes was only legal as long as the mayor saw no reason to declare them a public menace. Extreme property damage would hardly earn them any smiles when it came time for the city's annual budget, but it was easier for the men at the top to write off than a bloodbath on the streets with a Titan at the centre of it all.

"A'aight, just remember that this time you're the one who's gonna have to buy her a pint of ice-cream when she gets mad, since this was your idea an' all."

Despite himself, Robin had to chuckle at the parting jab as Cyborg let himself out. The 'Appease Raven' ice-cream fund had been started not too long after the Doctor Light incident a few years ago, they'd each noticed that a small tub of the frosty treat a few days after one of them had put their foot in it tended to make her a lot less likely to verbally backhand them a dozen times before lunch.

Needless to say, it was where a lot of Beast Boy's pocket money went (though he often made most of it back on weird gross-out dares Cyborg made him do. If it didn't involve meat, he was game).

He made a note to set aside a few dollars later and began his walk to the other end of the Tower, mentally rehearsing how best to start the conversation, or rather, the best way to get his point across without being verbally mauled. He was suddenly glad for all those hours Bruce and Alfred had spent coaching him on negotiation and public speaking back when he'd first joined the family. He didn't doubt he'd be a pile of nerves otherwise.

As it was, he still knocked on Raven's door with a slight degree of hesitance, but the sight that greeted him went the final step into convincing him that he was doing the right thing. Raven's natural pallor already bordered on the seemingly unhealthy, but with as pale as she was now…it was nearly sickening. He was reminded of an uncomfortable afternoon he'd spent with his parents as a child: they'd visited the zoo in one of the cities on the circus' tour-stop list, and for the first half-hour it'd been a lot of fun. But he vividly remembered trailing behind his parents in the aviary, eyes on each grand bird on display, until he finally came to one particular parrot habitat.

The bird within the cage had been on the verge of death, most of its vibrant plumage lay at its feet, the pale body beneath wrecked with cuts and scabs, shivering in the breeze as it shuffled from side to side for warmth. There was no lucidity in its eyes, staring forwards half blindly, hardly making a sound even as the other birds around it kicked up a fuss.

The sign next to it had proclaimed it as one of the oldest living specimens of whatever species it belonged to, but all Robin could remember was the desperate feeling of wanting someone to take the bird away, to finally let it die.

"Robin?"

The rasp of his teammate's voice broke through Robin's recollection as he tried to ignore her sorry state from where she was half hidden behind her door.

"We need to talk."

"Can it wait? I'm right in the middle of something right now and I really want to get back to-"

"No."

He keyed in the override code on the door-pad beside him, not wanting to think about the piles of wrecked belongings he could see behind Raven as her door opened all the way.

Raven's eyes narrowed at the action, but she still followed his unspoken command, stalking out of the darkness and letting the door slam shut behind her. It looked like her time regarding Robin's curiosity had run out.

The two birds started at each other, and Raven inwardly snorted at the idea that Robin expected her to start off the conversation. She was contemplating the idea of just phasing back into her room regardless of the consequences when her leader finally spoke up.

"Aspirin and painkillers from the medicine cabinets, more than a few mild sedatives from the med bay, your blood in the bathroom every couple of days…did you think no one had noticed?"

She winced at the charges, the number of medicinal aids seeming much larger when said like that, more frequent than one or two tablets here and there. And perhaps the sedatives had been overkill, but she'd needed the sleep so _badly_.

"No, I-"

"And on top of that, one man in the hospital for a dozen broken ribs, a shattered pelvis and what doctors are calling second degree burns on his arms simply because they don't have a more accurate term for it. It's been weeks now Raven, just what is going on?"

She crossed her arms over her body, hating the note of accusation that had coloured Robin's voice. Of course she was aware of what had happened to Killer Moth! She had been there, had been the cause of…but he didn't need to say it as if she had set out to hurt him from the beginning.

"It's complicated, but if you'd just let me get back to my work, I'll have a solution for this in no time."

The frown that had emerged on Robin's face as he reeled off the charges grew deeper as Raven turned back towards her room and punched in the access code, fists clenching when the error tone rang out.

"Robin, undo the damn lock you've put on my door and let me get back to work."

"Not happening, you and I are going to talk this out if it takes all day and we're going to find a solution together."

As he spoke, Robin made to lay a comforting hand on Raven's back, but he was forced to hold in a cry as Raven whirled towards him, eyes alight with red. Several tendrils of darkness clamped down on his outstretched arm, keeping it rigid in mid-air.

"_**Don't you people have any respect for personal space?!"**_ she hissed, her teeth seeming wickedly sharp as her shadows played havoc with what little light the hallway provided.

"_**You, Beast Boy, Starfire, none of you can keep your hands to yourselves. Can't you all get it through your heads that not everyone wants to be latched on to all the time?**_**"**

Sweat beaded down Robin's forehead as Raven spoke, knowingly or not, she was punctuating her remarks with tight squeezes to his arm, the bones grinding together in protest. Still, he kept his silence, hoping the stillness and her own uncharacteristic actions would break the storm.

Slowly, he inched his other hand towards the packs on his belt. He knew that if he made a wrong move, he'd most likely lose the limb she had a grip on, but precautions had to be taken for if his gamble didn't pay off. He calculated that if he timed it right, he could probably get away with blinding the other bird if things went south. He'd probably still lose the arm, but-

A choking gasp echoed from his teammate as the shadows dissipated. She stumbled backwards into her door as Robin let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, bones still protesting even as the pressure vanished.

"R-Robin, I…"

She slid down into a heap on the floor and Robin regarded her carefully, cradling the abused limb against his chest. Aside from whatever was wrong, he was willing to bet that stress was starting to become a factor in her behaviour. Nevertheless, an act of aggression like that couldn't be ignored. If she had broken down like that on one of the other Titans, one not as used to having their tolerance for pain tested in such a manner, a lost limb might have been the least of his problems.

He suppressed a shudder at the thought of Starfire being the one Raven had set upon and made to keep his distance as Raven collected herself, palming a flash-bang as he did so.

"After we brought down Killer Moth, you said that you'd tell me what you could later, that you needed to meditate right then," Robin said finally, his tone iron, "Nearly three days later and I'm still waiting for an explanation. Well it's late, Raven, and we _will_ talk."

Raven said nothing, merely nodded, as she slowly uncurled herself from where she sat, stumbling to her feet.

"Let's go."

He gestured for her to go first, unwilling to let her walk behind him as unstable as she still obviously was. He felt a small twinge of sadness, that he had been forced to exhibit the kind of behaviour towards someone that he had often disagreed with Batman about, but what could he have done differently in this case? He'd known from the beginning that Raven could be an extreme danger, were she not in her right mind, and yet events had still come to this. Had he been wrong to give her so much trust over the years? He wanted to say no, of course he hadn't, because she was his teammate and above that, she was his _friend. _But the ache in his arm and the slight lick of fear that still kept the flash-bang in his palm made him wonder sadly on that same trust.

The two converged on one of the tower's elevators, and for a moment Robin harboured reluctance to enter such an enclosed space with Raven, mind listing all the possible ways he could be maimed horribly in a forty five second elevator ride via creative applications of Raven's shadows. He felt like the child he had been in his first acrobatics performance without the comfort of a safety net below him. It was only his will then and now that stopped the trembles that threatened to jolt through his body.

As the car began its descent, he pulled his communicator from his belt and tapped in a series of silent messages to Cyborg asking him to round up the others.

"Robin…what's going to happen now?"

For a moment, Robin thought hard against the methods of escorting and dealing with a potentially dangerous individual that he'd been taught: Never engage in conversation, always keep within your sights and within range of a weapon, don't sympathise with them. He almost didn't answer Raven's question, but the tremor in her voice as she asked, the tremor that had never really left her voice since the night they'd attempted to shut down Doctor Friitawa, stayed the hand of his potential cruelty. He would never become the cold, hard arm of justice that Batman had wanted him to be, not if the price was to leave his friends cold and wanting when they needed him the most.

"We're going to see the others," he told her, meeting his eyes with her for the first time since she'd attacked him, "this never should have been something you needed to do alone, Raven. We've always been here for you, now's no different."

"But, I-"

"Just trust me Raven," he said, pulling his lips up into a smile that he doubted could be classed as comforting, unease threatening to morph it into a grimace, but it still did the trick, the slight hunch Raven had adopted uncurling slightly.

"Trust us."

For a second, their gazes locked, and he could see the worry and remorse rattling behind the cage of Raven's expression, usually so empty. He closed his mind off to the hammering in his heart and surreptitiously slipped the flash-bang back into place on his belt, the doors of the elevator sliding open masking the movement. Carefully, he gestured her forwards.

Venturing into the lower parts of the Tower was rare, for any of the Titans, aside from any need to use either the medical bay or the gym, the other rooms were by and large avoided. Robin was the only one that would frequently make the trips down to the evidence hold, but most of the other doors led to meeting rooms and hubs for communication with Batman in Gotham or, should the situation call for it, a long range system for the Justice League's Watchtower.

As it was, the sparsely furnished nature of the floor the two had alighted on made the despair of the situation sink a little deeper into Raven's bones. She wondered if Robin had commissioned any kind of holding cells here. The central structure of the Tower was the most re-enforced, in case of a demolitions style attack and therefore the most defensible, outside and in. She didn't doubt that if Robin did have something like imprisonment on his mind, she'd be stuck inside easily. She'd tested some of the structures herself, years ago when the Tower was in its early construction stages. Cyborg had acquired several types of metal that were strangely resistant to her energies. The shadows would simply drip off the beams like wet ink.

The thought of escape chased briefly though her mind…she knew she could subdue Robin with a little luck while his back was to her, and be off out of the window before anyone else could make it down to their level, but should she? Perhaps she was better off in a cell…there would be no one to hurt or trouble at all, and perhaps even her birthday could pass without danger.

The evil demon trapped within a tower….she almost chuckled at the fantastical nature of it. It sounded like the plot to one of Beast Boy's games. Maybe some young foolish hero would free her in a thousand years?

She tried to push the thought roughly out of her mind, barely trusting herself not to cry at the despair that thought brought her. Alone…dangerous…unwanted by her friends… above them, the light fixtures rattles violently, and she let her mantra run through her mind for a moment, stifling the feelings of sadness and fear as best she could manage. In front of her, Robin made no sound, but she hadn't missed the tension in his back that had emerged once the noise had started.

The steady drip of emotion that Robin seemed to have allowed himself were all ones of comfort, and it was reassuring, in a way, to know that he was there. But though she could applaud his excellent mental blocking abilities, there was no way she could miss Robin's own edges of unease. Though he would never say it, he was prepared for the possibility of a fight before they reached their destination, possibly after too. She wished the distrust was something she could be shocked at, hurt by, but she knew better than anyone the dangers she posed. Shame burned through her body at the thought.

Thankfully, she wasn't allowed to stew in her own feelings of regret for more than a moment. Robin finally came to a stop in front of a set of grey, steel doors. Raven stopped with him to wonder at it. They were the simple, sliding-type doors that were affixed to most other entrances in the Tower. Surely, they wouldn't be enough to hold her…?

"Raven?"

She jumped, a crackle of power dancing down her arm for a second as the doors slid open and split through her thoughts. Before there was even time for her to collect her wits, she was engulfed in a pair of arms

"Oh Raven! We have been most worried!"

The sudden comfort had been the last thing she expected, Starfire's arms clutching tightly around her frame as the alien clung to her, drawing her close. She spluttered slightly as her feet left the ground, a familiar surprise bordering on indignation washed though her as her body was crushed into the embrace. There was a second of amused familiarity before the feeling of another body against her own made disgust rise up within her, as it had been so frequently of late. She tensed herself, willing the darkness to stay back.

Over the other girl's shoulder, she could see Beast Boy and Cyborg. The metallic Titan was sat at one side of one of the large conference tables within the Tower, Beast Boy had just risen from his own chair and started towards the group forming at the doors.

"Starfire," Robin prompted the alien, nodding towards the table, and she smiled, setting Raven down and loosening her grip.

She seemed to consider leaving an arm on Raven's shoulders for a second, until a subtle shake of Robin's head warned her off. It cut through Raven's heart to see the affectionate girl deflate slightly, and wished for a second that she could approve of the contact that she so wanted. Starfire was tactile in nature, and she knew that the hug had been as much for her own comfort as it had been for Raven's. But she could feel the shadows sharpening within her, and she thought back with a sudden flash of fear to the pain on Robin's face as she'd pinned his arm. To do that to Starfire…

No. She wouldn't allow herself to be the cause of that kind of pain on any of her friend's faces again.

As the others took to their seats, Raven looked from one Titan to the other, searching their expressions for any hint as to what was going on, aside from the tension still marring Robin's brow. Each was relaxed, open and friendly towards her. Weary, she turned a testing glare onto Beast Boy, and though the coldness of her eyes made him fidget, he still maintained an aura of ease, as though dealing with a feral cat. Confused, she spun her glare to each Titan in turn, waiting to see if the air of calm would shatter and their judgement would pass down. Her concern mounted as nothing changed, the silence unbroken.

"Alright, what's going on here?"

"Call it an…intervention," Robin said, gesturing Raven to he own chair, one, she noted, that sat at the head of the table, faced by the others in the room.

Hesitantly, Raven seated herself, a growing idea of what was about to happen forming in her mind…exactly what she'd wanted _not_ to happen. The people before her were her precious friends, and her powers had certainly burdened them enough over the years. They were surely getting tired of this…

"I believe 'intervention' is too strong a word, we merely wish to aid our friend in her time of need." Starfire intoned. Consciously or not, her arms inched towards her from where they lay atop the table, her fingers worrying a trail across its surface.

Raven's hackles almost rose at Starfire's words. She didn't need 'aid', couldn't they see that? Beside her, Beast Boy was nodding, directing a grin in her direction that she was sure was meant to be reassuring. Beside him, Cyborg said nothing, but the metal man had always had a way of exuding stability and strength for the well being of his friends without words, and he was practically short-waving those emotions directly into her throbbing head right now.

It was so tempting to just get up and walk out now. She knew research by herself would be much more productive than if she had to babysit three out of four Titans to ensure no damage to her texts. And she really had no desire to worry her friends further. Even if they were entirely too much sometimes, they still meant more to her than she could ever say. The least she could do was handle this on her own.

But unbidden, an image of her shadows gripping Robin's arm tightly enough that the bones may very well have fractured, slammed down into her mind once again. He hadn't said anything to indicate the intensity of his pain, but whether he'd known it or not, his face had gone so _white_…

Slowly, his pale face morphed into Starfire's, her arm crushed in the same vice of power she'd generated…she certainly wouldn't have stayed as quiet as their leader. She could imagine the way Starfire would cry at the pain. The alien's pained shrieks cascading through her mind as her bones splintered through her skin. She attempted to banish the image, only for the cries to turn into gargled screams as the chips of bone erupting from Starfire's arm morphed into wires and crossbeams in her mind. Gouts of oil spurting out as Cyborg's arm was instead caught in her rage. She'd noted before that her shadows hardly blended well with his systems, causing feedback after feedback in his body that could lead to serious malfunctions if left unchecked.

Before her, the four remaining Titans fought their instincts to tense with worry as they watched the dark bird in front of them, her eyes screwed shut and her body trembling, unsure if she was working to contain some new mayhem within herself. Remembering Robin's short messages to Cyborg that they keep themselves calm, for everyone's sake as much as Raven's, they focused on keeping their emotions grounded and comforting as much as they could, a silent crutch for Raven to lean on if she needed it.

Inside Raven's mind, she forcefully banished the image of Cyborg's body spasming painfully under the pin of her shadows, electric current running unchecked throughout his body as his fail-safes were shredded through one by one. As quickly as the image of the metal Titan fell away however, a new horror show rose in its place as Beast Boy became the next victim of her unchecked powers. At once, she knew Beast Boy would attempt some tricky transformation to escape her grip, hoping to throw her off with a body type she needed a moment to form her energies around…but she knew he wouldn't be fast enough, and it would cost him.

She'd read somewhere once that, unlike a human, when an animal broke a bone, the pain would be so intense for the creature that shock would almost immediately set in, and the animal would die if left untreated. If Beast Boy became something with legs that couldn't adapt to whatever hold she enforced on him, it would be over in moments.

She dreaded to think it….but she had gotten _lucky_ today.

And that was not a gamble she could afford to take with her friends ever again.

One by one, the Titans watched as Raven seemed to reach some sense of stability within herself and slowly, forcefully pulled her body out of the tight huddle she had begun to curl into. Her muscles jerking slightly as she settled herself down into a neutral position, unscrewing her eyes as she looked at each of them in turn.

"Alright," she said, containing her breathing into long, rattling breaths with some effort, "how can we start?"

* * *

_A.N Hello once again! As you can see, the New Year did indeed not roll around before I got around to publishing this next chapter, that's a success right? Thank you so much to the few of you who even left me reviews for the last chapter, I appreciate knowing that people are enjoying this so much. I did a little of this last chapter, but I think here is where I start to incorporate more and more team POV's, because despite this being a Raven-centric story, I want to focus on writing for all of the Titans (I have some Starfire and Beast Boy POV's in Chapter 3) and I'd love some feedback on how I'm doing and just how you're liking the story in general. If you're back here with me on this after checking out the first two chapters, welcome back and as ever_

_Hope you liked it~_


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